20/09/2018 A few photos from out on the roads yesterday and in the garden.

Maximum temperature today 29C, minimum 15C.  Dry; 10km/h North-westerly winds with up to 24 km/h gusts. 

I love driving through the forest areas.  The sky was blue, but not this blue, the tinted windscreen again!!

Lots of obstructions on the roads, but we missed a photo of the biggest vehicle as we were busy watching we did not end up in a ditch!...

as above...

Tight fit!

La Vienne river, drive-by photo at Coldebouye.

The church at Chirac.

A well at Esse.

A new car to me.  A Noble - I had never heard of a Noble before let alone seen one. Seen at Esse

Driving home through more treed areas.

In the garden at home...

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)...

As above.

Cosmos with insects - friends or foes!!

  

Cosmos and bumblebee.

Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis).

My bird blog

has been updated HERE

17/07/2017 The town of Chabanais where yesterday's car rally with friends ended. The photos of the cars I may do another time.

Maximum temperature 33C, minimum 16C.   18 km/h SE winds.  Dry.

I have been working in the garden trying to catch up and have not picked up my camera all day!  My back knows how hard the gardening was!!

The rally ended with lunch in Chabanais so I took the chance to walk around before we all sat down to a magnificent lunch.

The new bridge over the  Vienne river  was built in 1958; see the sign below at the entrance to the bridge

The paths of memory.

The bridge was destroyed by the Maquis (the French Resistance) on  1 Aug 1944  to stop the Germans from crossing.

The same bridge, showing the weir and the other half of the town on the opposite side.

Standing on the new bridge looking downstream towards another old steel bridge. I wonder if this steel bridge was a temporary solution, after the big one had been blown up. I cannot find any reference easily....

The church spire of San Sebastian seen from the opposite bank. It was originally the chapel of a hospital founded in 1386. It became a parish church in 1419 for the inhabitants of this district.

The history of Chabanais is extremely interesting, and there is a Wikipedia entry, mostly concentrating on the effects of numerous wars.  if my  French speaking followers are interested it can be found here

Sadi Carnot.

Born in Limoges (42 kms away) on 11 August 1837, he became the French President on 3 Dec 1887.  He remained  president until he was assassinated in Lyon, stabbed with a knife on 25 June 1894

I was fascinated by this little dog happily being carried around in a bag :-)

Dining room full and there were 120 cars, so this meant quite a lot of people.  A few cars only carried one person, but most had at least two, and there were some with four.

Main course was six giant paellas and we all had full platefuls; some people even went back for seconds!  This was followed by a course of 3 cheeses and a huge bowl of fruit salad. Yum yum.

16/06/2017 The remainder of yesterday's photos in Confolens and three from the garden back home today.

Maximum temperature 24C, minimum 10C. 18 kmh NE wind.  Dry.

The old pedestrianised bridge across La Vienne see yesterday.

Looking from the old bridge towards the new bridge built for for vehicles...

and on the other side...

and looking back....

also on the other side the old convent of St Clare.  In 1792 that became the local hospital...

Sadly a brand new hospital has now been built...

and this old place is now looking very abandoned...

with over grown gardens hiding the old statues.  Last time I saw it in 2012 the place was in working order with immaculate gardens :-((

Walking along by the side of the river, we saw this building with what looked like it had a loading platform at one stage.  Long gone and we will never know what it loaded.

Similar photo across the river to yesterday but from a different place.

Before returning home we had a cold drink and a cake at The Irish Belle.  Very friendly and the cake was delicious.

Back home the rose is surviving the weather.

Le gendarme beetle or firebug ( Pyrrhocoris apterus)

I just saw this tiny spider on a leaf, I think it is a web spinning spider but I have not idea which one.  It was very difficult to see with the naked eye, probably less than 2mm in size.

15/06/2017 A trip to Confolens, once again I took too many photos so more tomorrow!

Maximum temperature 28C, minimum 15C. 15 kmh NW wind with 21 km/h gusts.  Dry.

Driving to Confolens we were behind this truck at one stage, note the maximum speeds on the back (60 70 80).  We were in a 90 km/h zone and we could not keep up doing much faster than that!!

Arriving at the new bridge in Confolens that now carries the traffic across the Vienne river.

We parked our car in the park next to the Mairie (Mayor's office)

Many interesting old buildings.

Nigel spotted this interesting sign.  In 1902, Helena Rubinstein revolutionised the world of cosmetics. 

Narrow streets!

The side of the church Saint Maxime...

The side entrance...

The imposing entrance to the church of Saint Maxime is a work of the 13th century, and in typical local Limousin style. The church is confined by adjacent buildings and it was difficult to get back far enough to take this photo!! The original romanesque church, mentioned in records from 990, has disappeared as a result of numerous reconstructions....

The bell tower taken from further down the road.

The sign by the side of the old bridge...

and even more info...

The old bridge now pedestrianised.

Saint Maxime taken from the opposite side of the Vienne river and the old pedestrian bridge on the right.